I would have figured Ayla Brown to be a shoo-in as one of the three best women singers on "American Idol" this season. Now she's gone. Gedeon McKinney seemed to be growing in appeal. Now he's gone.

Gone, too, are Will Makar and Kinnik Sky, and I can't argue much about their removal. But Ayla and Gedeon? After a couple of weeks where the votes made sense to me, these results are baffling. Of course, this is the way the show keeps people watching — and voting. You have to have the occasional shock. I just didn't expect two on the same night.

BTW, when Ryan Seacrest was comforting Ayla after her ouster, I wish she had just looked at him and said, "Yeah, you're so concerned about me, you made me wait over 40 freakin' minutes on this stage before telling me my fate."

Talk about sadism: The women have to sit while being informed which one has the fewest votes. Then they have to wait while the men go through the same process. Then they have to come back to find out who has the second-fewest votes. A process that also includes waiting through a commercial for the news. I really like watching "Idol," but I don't forget that it has a mean streak.

I took a look at a new episode of "The West Wing," which airs on Sunday. It's still following the two tracks — the presidential campaign between Santos and Vinnick, and the international crisis where the U.S. may have to intervene — and even finds a place for the tracks to come together. It has some good stuff in the campaign portions, where the Santos campaign has finally pulled close and Vinnick's moderation on some issues may have to be compromised to keep his campaign viable. Ron Silver and Patricia Richardson, who have been playing members of Vinnick's team, have some good scenes. Still, it wasn't a great "West Wing," and I thought Vinnick had stepped out of his moderate box when he went knee-jerk in the debate episode.

But that, as you are undoubtedly aware, is not why I am a sentimental fool. It was the first sight of the late John Spencer, still alive and playing Leo, in this episode. It was just a glimpse, but it choked me up. I miss the guy, even more when I see him at work.

And I still love to see him work. There is a scene in this episode with Leo and Bartlet that reminds us how well those two worked together, what a good fit they were. It was a good enough scene that I just watched the characters interact, and the actors at work, without thinking once again that Spencer was gone.

I didn't get around to this week's "Amazing Race" until Wednesday night, but I had already gotten a content warning from a co-worker. "Too much sex," she said with a shake of her head.

Sure enough, the episode had buddies Eric and Jeremy coveting bigtime, whether it was the Pink Ladies (Danielle and Dani) or Brazilian prostitutes — until, that is, they realized the prostitutes were cross-dressers. Early in the episode, they talked about they whether they might "get some sex" during the show, and they didn't let up. Granted that Danielle and Dani spoke about using "our feminity" as a game-playing tactic, Eric and Jeremy were obviously playing two games — the race and the race for sex.

Is this really so bad? After all, we've had adult conversations on "Amazing Race" before, including mentions of a player's implants. And the show does air at 10 p.m.

Still, whenever I think about a show airing at 10, I hear the voice of Ann Hodges, the now-retired TV critic for the Houston Chronicle. When a network executive mentioned that a show was on at 10, she would remind them that it aired at 9 in her part of the country.

In these days of video recording, a time slot does not mean as much as it used to.  And viewers may feel some shows are suitable for the entire family regardless of when they air. "American Idol," for instance, has a considerable family following; when it has done two-hour telecasts, another co-worker has had to decide whether her young daughter can stay up late enough to watch the telecasts to the end.

"Amazing Race" also has a family vibe. In fact, the last series was a "family edition" with teams of four, some of them children. While that "family edition" was ultimately a bad idea, it still told audiences that the show was OK for all audiences.

This time, not so much. I suspect my co-worker is not the only one to be put off by the content in Tuesday's show. In fact, I talked to several other "Race" fans in my office who found it troubling, and in at least one case a reason not to like Eric and Jeremy.

I've loved "Amazing Race" for a long time because its blend of a pure competition — that is, the race — and likable personalities. This time around, it is back with the fun of an international jaunt, and several of the teams are appealing at this point. BJ and Tyler's semi-hippie ways may have tricked other teams into underestimating them, and Dave and Lori remain the cutest nerds since Bill Murray and Gilda Radner. (Dave's line of the night, on making ethanol: "I totally did that experiment in school.")

But as we get to know the teams, some things are better kept private. Eric and Jeremy's spanking fantasies qualify.

I am thinking seriously about going back to recording "Idol" instead of watching it live, since that way I can fast-forward through the host, judges and cutesy stuff.

It's not just that I don't care that Ace worked odd jobs, Taylor was a mall Easter bunny, Kevin likes Kanye West or that Bucky has a twin brother. It's that I am SO tired of Ryan Seacrest trying to banter with Simon Cowell, especially when Ryan pretends to have the higher moral ground — for example, when he zipped Simon tonight for not providing "constructive criticism."

Sure, Simon can be annoying, and the "pack your bags" predictions are almost as tiresome as Ryan's self-righteousness. Still, although it is often forgotten in the context of Paula's raves and Randy's mixed messages, Simon talks like the hard-to-please/give-us-what-we-want music executives the contestants are going to have to reckon with when their "Idol" deals run out. And when you consider how many people watch this show, it's telling that so few stars have done well on the charts — if they have gotten on them at all.

As for Paula, at one point she said that "all the guys are stepping up."  No. That was last week. This week the guys were, well, ordinary. Boring. Even one of the singers I kind of like was given an undeserved pass on personality points.

I am talking, of course, about Taylor Hicks, who seemed like an interesting singer at the beginning but has been disappointing me lately. And tonight, even though the judges raved, he was screaming more than singing, and his moves have gone from Joe Cocker to John-Belushi-As-Joe Cocker. It pained me, but I gave him a D, lowest score of the night.

Not that it was a big scoring range, basically from C plus to D, and a lot of the C's felt wishy-washy, with pluses and minuses added and scratched out and added again in my notes. But here's how it went:

Gedeon McKinney, Chris Daughtry, Elliott Yamin and Ace Young all get C pluses, for performances that had interesting parts but did not knock me out in toto. Although the judges loved Ace's show-closing performance, I heard a lot of screech in that falsetto. Gedeon, who opened the show, is getting oddly pigeonholed as an "old soul" (Randy's phrase); I wondered if that was a way to pit him against Taylor in viewers' minds, except the judges still love Taylor.

Since I've got four guys there with the same grade, if I had to rank them first to fourth, it would probably go Gedeon, Ace, Chris, Elliott, although even as I type that I am mentally shuffling the names.

C for Bucky Covington. Somewhere between a C and C minus for Kevin Covais, closer to a C minus because he did "Vincent," for crying out loud, and not very well.

C minus for Will Makar. (And, in my latest gripe about the way songs are described, "Idol" presented "How Sweet It Is" as a James Taylor song. Could we please remember Marvin Gaye?) Will, by the way, was the singer Paula praised when declaring that the guys were stepping up. This after Randy had knocked Will, and before Simon did likewise, and I don't think Paula was the lone voice of reason.

Oh, Randy and mixed messages: When the judges debated Chris's performance, Simon said the song was boring; Randy told Chris, "It's about you, not the song." Should we therefore forget that Randy is Mr. Song Choice, often hammering (and praising) singers for the choice of material?

Then the D for Taylor Hicks. Which, again, kind of kills me because that means that, on my report card, he and Will should go home. I did the like the guy and I think he might have another good performance in him. Which, too, puts me in the same spot as a lot of voting viewers (and the judges) — considering a performer for more than this week's song, or for things other than the singing.

Sci Fi sent out this missive today. I suspect the hard-core fans know everything that's in it, but just in case…

As SCI FI's hit original series Battlestar Galactica gears up for its biggest episode ever - this Friday's 90-minute season 2 finale - the Channel begins preparations for the October 2006 premiere of the show's eagerly anticipated third season.  Production on season 3 begins in Vancouver in April.

Returning to its Friday night slot with a complete 20-episode order, season 3 of Battlestar Galactica promises even more of the drama, intrigue and action that viewers have come to expect from the series.  One of television's most critically-acclaimed dramas, Battlestar Galactica has captured the minds of a new generation of fans, distinguishing itself with the intensity and present day relevance of its stories and the command performances of its ensemble cast.   

The entire Battlestar Galactica ensemble will return, including Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis, Tricia Helfer and Grace Park.  As previously announced, Lucy Lawless will also join the cast for a 10-episode arc, reprising her role as D'Anna Biers, a Cylon.

Executive produced by Ronald D. Moore and David Eick, Battlestar Galactica is from NBC Universal Television Studio. 

SCI FI's ever-popular Stargate series, SG-1 and Atlantis, will return with their new seasons in July 2006. 

The death of Gordon Parks reminded me of "Half Past Autumn," a fine documentary about the man, which aired on HBO in 2000.  Below is a column I wrote when the production was televised.

If there's a defining image for Gordon Parks, it may be of the movie detective John Shaft striding through the streets of New York City in the opening of the original 1972 version of "Shaft."
   Parks directed the movie. It's easy to imagine him instead of actor Richard Roundtree in those opening scenes — cool, confident, suave but almost always in motion, always on the lookout for another adventure.
   We don't see that restless Parks in "Half Past Autumn: The Life and Works of Gordon Parks." …  Parks will be 88 on that day [when it aired], and the man talking to the camera in the documentary is an elder statesman, white-haired and reflective.
   But we certainly hear about the restlessness in the life of a man whose summary in Who's Who calls him "film director, author, photographer, composer" — and somehow seems inadequate.
   "His creativity manifests itself in such a wide variety of ways that one has to strain to find someone his equal," art historian Thomas M. Shaw wrote in the St. James Guide to Black Artists.
   While you might argue about the quality of Parks' work in a single genre — whether, for example, his films endure as more than cultural artifacts — it's the breadth of his accomplishments that inspires awe.
   Parks was the first African-American to work as a photojournalist for Life magazine, the top outlet for photographers in its day. He was also the first to direct a major motion picture, 1969's "The Learning Tree." And the film was based on Park' best-selling novel, his first try at that form.
   His life has had its problems. He repeatedly failed as a husband. His son, Gordon Parks, Jr. — also a film director, best known for "Superfly" — died in an airplane crash in 1979. His movie directing tapered off after he felt his 1976 film Leadbelly had been mishandled by its studio.
   And, as the documentary shows, taking pictures of problems around the world threw light on issues but did not solve the problems of the people in the pictures.
   Half Past Autumn interviews Parks, displays his photographs, shows off his musical compositions and includes clips from some of his movies.
   It also includes interviews with admirers, friends, ex-wives and a couple of subjects of famous photographs.
   And in its soft-spoken way, it tells the story of someone who, from his birth in Kansas, showed a quiet determination to succeed, along with a sense that just about anything was possible.
   First taking up a camera in the '30s and arriving at Life in the late '40s, Parks became famous for shooting famous personalities and ordinary people whose lives informed the social conflicts of which Parks was all too keenly aware.
   Particularly in his photographs dealing with race — notably of struggling families in the North and the South — Parks faced obstacles.
   On assignment for Life in Alabama, he discovered that the magazine's local contact had ties to a local racist group. (He still did the story, but the family he profiled was driven out of town.)
   But as his reputation grew, he found that he was able to go places white photographers could not — inside Elijah Muhammad's Muslim movement and the Black Panthers, for example. (The Panthers even offered him a job.) But he took pains not to be defined solely by race, taking photographs of
models and movie stars. He turned down the job with the Panthers because "violence was not a thing for me."
   "Shaft" means a lot more to its fans than it does to Parks, who made it to "establish myself as a director who could do different kinds of films and make money."
   Of course, Parks spread his passions wide. "Half Past Autumn" — directed by Craig Rice and written by Lou Potter — cannot begin to contain all of his work in any single field. But by showing not only the range of his efforts, but also the humanity he brought to all the endeavors, it gets us both into Parks' work and his heart.

  (end column)

   You can still find the documentary, by the way. Click on its title at the top of my post, and you go to a link at www.amazon.com. It's also in the catalog of the Akron public library.

The PR machine seems to be kicking into high gear, building up the personalities, keeping an eye on the previous votes and maybe even trying to keep the votes close with some selective editing.

Mandisa was the class of the show tonight, head and shoulders ahead of everyone else, and the judges said so. But when "Idol" ran the recap clips of all the performers, it chose a surprisingly tepid one for Mandisa, while finding better stuff for other singers whose overall performances were not as good (such as Kinnik Sky).

Paula, meanwhile, is fully into earth-mother mode, and struggled once again to say nice things when the performances were not great, starting with an underwhelming Paris Bennett. If I were a woman singer on the show, every time Paula told me that I looked beautiful, I would think that my singing must have been really bad. Of course, if Simon told me that "America loves you," I would figure he's had a peek at recent votes and I'm doing all right.

We were also deep into the land of cutesy, what Ryan Seacrest called "little well-known facts." (Expect more of that. We have gone from pretaped performance shows to live ones). In other words, Lisa Tucker loves Jimi Hendrix, Kinnik likes chitlins, Ayla Brown in her childhood thought her dad was Elvis, Katharine McPhee went to the same school as Constantine Maroulis, Kellie Pickler has a dumb dog.

Good grief. To the performances, then, with the understanding once again that my report card is simply MY report card, and I know that the viewer vote may go a different way. Although my card and the viewer vote have been close, as the field tightens and popular singers occasionally struggle, I'm expecting some big disparities.

So here goes: Mandisa tops with a B plus. Melissa McGhee gets a B minus with a convincingly rocking performance, although her performance also reminded me how intrusive the backup singers can be, covering up some notes I would have liked to hear.

C plus for Lisa Tucker, who knows how to sell a song. Ayla Brown, not as good as usual, and Kellie Pickler, thriving more on the show's embrace of her personality than on her singing, each get a C. Paris Bennett, often good, seemed out of her range and even a little out of breath; because she opened the show, I expected better. C minus.

Katharine McPhee: D plus. I really resented the show's pushing "McPhee-ver" as a catchphrase. When she started in on Aretha's "Think," I started snarling, "Big mistake," and she didn't do much to change my mind. Energetic, but not soulful. Then Kinnik: D. She admitted to problems, but I didn't think she ever had a handle on her song.

I expect to be reviewing the DVD of "Over There" at length in about a week, before its March 21 release. But given the way people keep commenting on this blog about "Over There," I thought I would give you some details about the set.

It's four single-sided discs, and in widescreen format.

The ''selected episodes" with commentaries are the pilot (series co-creator Chris Gerolmo and co-producer Joan Gerolmo), "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding" (military advisor SSgt. Sean Bunch and Iraqi advisor Sam Sako and "Spoils of War" (actors Luke McFarlane, Erik Palladino, Keith Robinson, Kirk "Sticky" Jones, Omid Abtahi, Lizette Carrion and Nicki Aycox).

There's a  six-minute featurette called "Weapons Debriefing" and a segment called "Tour of Duty: Filming 'Over There' " that runs close to 80 minutes.

As I said, I'll be writing more when it gets closer to the release date. I have to get through a pile of DVDs coming out on March 14, my hours at work were hectic and tonight brings "American Idol," "The Amazing Race" and other mandatory-in-my-house viewing.

When news first came about the injuries to the ABC newsmen, I posted information in the blog. Once the information was getting wide distribution, I didn't see a need for more posts. Unfortunately, based on my lack of posts, a blog reader concluded that ABC was not issuing updates. Not so. In fact, here's one that came today from ABC News President David Westin.

As Dave Woodruff [Bob's brother] is reporting on GMA this morning, Bob has made some substantial progress in recent days.  He is now conscious and talking, although he remains under fairly heavy medication for pain from his various injuries (which are healing well).  They have him up and walking around.  He's conversing with Lee, with his children, and with the nurses.  He's approaching the point where he will be leaving Bethesda Medical Center, and they are working hard at the moment to make sure they have the right facility to continue his recovery.  Once again, it's important for all of us to bear in mind that this will be a long process.  We're not close to the end yet.  But, as he has throughout, Bob is exceeding expectations and giving us real reason for optimism.

The networks officially announce their schedules for 2006-07 in May. But CBS took a big leap toward that announcement today with this announcement:

In a move that renews a large portion of television's Number One prime time lineup in one swoop, CBS announced today it has delivered full-season orders for the 2006-2007 season to 14 series representing 13 hours of programming.

The renewed series represent a deep and diverse roster of top-rated dramas, comedies, reality series and newsmagazines. The mass renewal announcement includes three new series from television's top-rated freshman class — CRIMINAL MINDS, GHOST WHISPERER and HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER — all of which have delivered impressive time period growth.

In addition to the freshman series, returning series receiving full season orders for 2006-2007 are 60 MINUTES, THE AMAZING RACE, COLD CASE, CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION, CSI: MIAMI, CSI: NY, NCIS, NUMB3RS, SURVIVOR, TWO AND A HALF MEN and WITHOUT A TRACE.

Here's the link to the podcast George Thomas and I did after the Oscars ended:

http://www.ohiomm.com/podcasts/movies/oscars2005/post_oscars.mp3

It was a fun chat, if one tainted by a lack of sleep. At some point in our conversation it felt as if I had used the words "I mean" at the beginning of, oh, just about every sentence. And I suspect there is enough overlapping dialogue — I also remember saying "Go ahead" a lot — to make this sound like our own little Robert Altman homage.

I give Jon Stewart about a C minus as host. Not a strong monologue, and he seemed determined not to venture too far from his lectern. Too many better-on-paper jokes.

Having had a moment to think about it, I'm a little surprised that the political content was as muted as it was, given the Iraq war and the way a lot of Hollywood feels about President Bush.

Relatively efficient telecast, coming in at 3 1/2 hours.  But you have to wonder why the movie academy keeps claiming that it will finish in three hours.

Good stuff: Opening sketch, Clooney's acceptance, Ben Stiller, Lily and Meryl, Reese's acceptance, the "Pimp" acceptance.

Bad stuff: Three high points were in the first hour. Misspelling Will Ferrell's name. Lauren Bacall. "Pimp" overly edited for broadcast. (Make that "Pimp" edited for broadcast, period. If the words scare the academy, then put some content rules in the nomination process.) Cutting off the best-picture producers.

Preshow: Thank goodness for Keira Knightley. Should have been more finery on view. Wish I had recorded Joan Rivers's chat with Ludacris.

Look later for a podcast from me and George Thomas. You're a beautiful audience! Goodnight!

I so hope Jon Stewart wasn't kidding about running out of film clips.

I like Lily and Meryl making affectionate fun of Robert Altman's directing style. It's better than his acceptance speech, although the old fox manages to get in plugs for his latest play and movie. Of course, I also love a lot of Altman's movies. (Memo: See if "Brewster McCloud" is on Netflix.) I also know that Altman's career has included stretches in television — the wonderful "Tanner '88, a nifty "Caine Mutiny Court-Martial" — but you don't get to hear about that on the movie industry's night.

But we did get more film clips!

And yes, they have held "Pimp" for late in the East-Coast evening.

Ludacris introduces the song. At least he's in "Hustle & Flow." And what was that, 3 seconds before we got an audio drop? Toned-done lyrics. But THIS is a real Oscar song performance, thanks to the cheeseball Vegasy choreography and costumes. OK, now go rent the movie and see how it should be done.

IT WINS THE OSCAR!!!!! And the acceptance speech comes not only with a bleep but a really boisterous expression of joy from the accepters. Now you really have to see the movie. Stewart nails it, saying that's how you accept an Oscar.

Oh, no, not another attack-ad parody. Time to see if … yup, Cavs won.

Best things about the Oscars at this point: It's moving along, so we may finish at a reasonable hour. And that "Hard Out Here for a Pimp" win has energized Stewart; good line about Martin Scorsese.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, shielding his eyes with the award announcement. It's almost as if his character in "Magnolia" won the Oscar. (And Hoffman's been owed one since that movie, and before.) Extra points for citing Van Morrison.

John Travolta had a little trouble with the word "memoirs."

Reese Witherspoon. (I hate those voice-overs offering tidbits about the winners.) Oh, she's such a sweetie. The camera's on her husband — AND she remembers to thank him! Nice line: "I'm just trying to matter."

Adapted screenplay. Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, "Brokeback." McMurtry is one of my writing gods, so I am glad to see him win, well, anything, even a movie that recalls "Lonesome Dove" — and pales next to it. But it's good to hear him remind the people watching television to read, too.

"Crash" for original screenplay. Paul Haggis gets an Oscar. Could this please, please lead to the release of "EZ Streets" on DVD — and maybe a revival of it?

This ceremony is now longer than it was last year, but still within reasonable Oscar limits. (The record is apparently 4 hours and 16 minutes.)

Ang Lee wins. Not a bad acceptance speech, but not one for the ages.

Nicholson has his fun. And ends up out of sync with the nominee clips for it.

Oh, gosh, "Crash" wins best picture. The people are almost as excited as the guys who won best song. It's an amazing movie, by the way — and, I have to say it, better than "Brokeback."

And now that Paul Haggis has won another Oscar, the "EZ Streets" DVD is mandatory.

The loud music is cutting off the best-picture acceptance. THE BEST PICTURE ACCEPTANCE. For pete's sakem, it's the biggest award of the night, and this telecast is not setting a record for length unless the acceptance goes another hour. And they sure had time for some more commercials.

Stewart's joke about the Oscar statue and democracy was a little funny. Or I had just saved up a sympathy chuckle.

Best supporting actress. Memo to self: Time to take the shrink wrap off that "Constant Gardener" DVD and finally watch it. Or get that old paperback of the novel off the shelf and finally read it.

Coming up; the second nominated song. Dare we hope for "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"? Or will ABC hold that back for after 10 p.m. (still 7 p.m. on the West Coast).

Commercials. Cavs up 3 in the third.

I love Lauren Bacall's old movies. So sad to see her labor through this "film noir" segment. But in a show that usually runs long, I don't get the point of this segment, except to drive a lot of people to Netflix. And for a genre known for its pace and urgency, the piece feels slow.

I think the Stewart material is coming off as too writerly. I can see the attack-ads parody looking good on paper. Not so good onscreen.

Terrence Howard. Give him an Oscar. I don't care if he won one. Just give him one. Take that talkative makeup guy's. This is Terrence Howard, folks. He's a great actor. Look at his movies — and look how dull he seems here. That's how great an actor he is.

"March of the Penguins" wins. The guys are carrying penguin dolls. What is this, prop night? And it's amazing what a bum's rush the recipients get — Jennifer Lopez is coming onstage as they're still heading off.

Not the "pimp" song yet. But a good one, from "Crash." Kathleen York's a decent actress ("The West Wing") but obviously a strong singer, too. Remember her as Naomi Judd in the "Love Can Build a Bridge" TV-movie?

A series of clips from issues movies makes sense this year, I suppose, And I welcome any excuse to see a clip from "To Kill a Mockingbird." On the other hand, it brings us back to what George Clooney was talking about in his acceptance speech — and reminds us how very long it has been since he made his remarks.

First good comment from Stewart in some time — looking at the clips and saying "and none of those issue was ever a problem again." But Stewart has me thinking of Tiger Woods at Doral today — going to the last hole, knowing that he can bogey and still win the thing. Stewart does not have that luxury. He needs a whole bunch of birdies to turn around his performance.

Stewart's line is even better now that the Academy guy is being windily self-righteous about Hollywood, And it would have been great if Stewart had saved it until after this guy gave his speech. (And what was that whole go-to-the-theaters plea? Don't the studios make tons of money from the DVD's, too?)

Jake Gyllenhaal introduces a segment on epics. And takes ANOTHER shot at watching movies on DVD. Dude, there are movies I would never see if it weren't for DVD. And with a decent-sized set and the lights out — the way we watched "Walk the Line" on Saturday night — it's still a very involving experience. Moreover, I didn't have to ask anyone to be quiet, wonder if my shoes would come unstuck from the floor and remember to bring my debit card in case we wanted popcorn.

And on that rant, we end the second hour.

Show opens with just the sort of fancy tech that this year's best-picture nominees are a reaction against.

Good opening gag with Billy Crystal and Chris Rock (and first "Brokeback" joke of the night), followed by a nice recap of previous hosts. Stewart with Halle is a good gag, too. We're off to a decent start.

Stewart's struggling with the monologue, though. By the Dick Cheney joke, he's getting sympathy applause. I'm sitting at home, and still found myself giving him a sympathy chuckle. The "gay westerns" clip reel had possibilities, but still fell flat.

And now .. the first award. Best supporting actor. George Clooney. "All right, so I'm not winning director," he says, admitting what all the Oscar strategy-analysts in the audience are thinking. And he gives a pretty good speech, setting the bar early for the other acceptances.

Tom Hanks is a very funny man. But not in the acceptance-speech bit.

I was going to get some cake for the visual-effects award, only I had to stay when Ben Stiller came out in the green suit. And the effects-that-isn't-there gag is kind of amusing.

Blah, blah. The bowties on the Wallace & Gromit guys are cute but the adding them to the Oscars is forced.

Ooh, ooh, best song! Do horrors await? Well, there is whatever has happened to Dolly Parton's face. But the song itself is bland, and blandly presented.

I am losing track of how many times the camera has shown Jack Nicholson. Surely someone was clapping along to Dolly's song without looking either awkward (like Jack) or uncomfortable.

Chicken Little. Find a picture of "American Idol's" Kevin Covais, See how apt is Heather Cox's comparison of the two.

All right, around the best-costume stuff, I began to fade. Went elsewhere online for a moment. Cavs trail at the half by two.

Russell Crowe. He may have a bad rep in some circles, but he cleans up for the Oscars.

Want proof that comic actors have trouble getting respect from the movie industry? The Oscar graphic misspelled Will Ferrell's last name, Unfortunately, the makeup joke — with Steve Carell — didn't offer much reason to correct the spelling.

And we have gotten through the first hour — ending with a long acceptance speech from some makeup guy,